Another really fun thing I discovered while wondering the streets of
Venice was visiting the small and intimate campos located throughout Venice.
Interestingly, I discovered that there was a campo located near
and almost adjacent to most of the churches I visited. I'm not sure if this was a planned objective by the venetians,
but their proximity to each other certainly made my sightseeing goals more efficient. Not that I was trying to
be very efficient with time on my vacation because trust me other than my set tour dates, my Ravenna daytrip and the Maria
La Salute Fiesta, I kept no set schedule on what I did or when I did them. And I loved it!
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| Campo San Marcula |
There were campos of varying sizes and levels of activity. First
there was the very large and busy Campo Santa Margherita. The hang out of choice for local residents and students attending
the nearby local university. There were vendors selling fresh fruit and vegatables and seafood on the far
end coming from Campo San Barnaba. There's also a convenient and rather
large "mercato." This campo is a great place for students and locals to congregate. It is pretty big and
is surrounded by little cafes and a couple of restaurants like Dickens Inn. There is a fantastic cafe called cousins
which sold delicious gelato. A few times I went to purchase a cone/cup and then I would find an empty spot on one of
the benches sitting under this great big tree located near the vegatable vendor. This was a great spot for sitting,
eating my gelato and for watching the daily activities of the campo.
And then there were the very small and quiet campos like Campo
San Marcula where the only activity around seem to come from the people exiting the San Marcula Vaporetto Stop.
To me it seemed like most of these campos were places where
local venetians (and tourists such as myself) could gather to sit, drink, eat, play and in general hang out and
socialize. Visiting these campos became a great way for me to observe real everyday life in
Venice.
For example, I remember visiting Campo San Giacomo dall' Orio where I
observed a couple watching over their children playing and riding their bikes. Later, while walking around
I bumped into the same family. The father was actually carrying his daughter's bike most likely back to their home.
Then there was the very small and quiet Campo Madonna Orta where I saw these three boys practicing their soccer skills with
only the occassional tourist (such as myself) walking by to enter the Madonna Orta Church.
It was great hanging out amongst the locals in these campos
rather than just moving through them just to say that I was there. One of my favorite campos was Santa Margherita because
it was pretty large and had so much activity. There were filled with University students, families, older locals chatting
away and vendors. I had several meals there not to mention several cups of gelato and glasses of prosecco. My favorite
thing to do while hanging out in Santa Margherita was to buy a cup/cone of gelato, sit on a bench (my favorite was
next to this big tree) right next and watch all the activities in the campo. Priceless!
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